Wear You Down
by Jellybean82
Summary: It's freshman year at Hollywood Arts and Beck has taken notice of a mysterious girl in his class. Everyone thinks she is scary and mean and she wouldn't have it any other way. Beck on the other hand finds her interesting even though she won't give him the time of day. He's determined to get her to notice him. *BADE beginnings!*
1. Who's That Girl

It was a typical afternoon at Hollywood Arts. Another unusually long period between classes where students hung out in the hallways. Beck, one of the new freshmen, looks around and sees people dancing in the halls and showing off their different talents. As he scans the hall he sees the girl who was in his acting class standing at her locker. Beck was intrigued by this girl, there was something mysterious about her. She didn't really talk to anyone, and she pretty much kept to herself. She was dressed in black from head to toe, even had on black nail polish. That was the only class they had together that day and they pretty much just listened to the teacher talk a bit about acting and a lot about random things that popped in his head. He never had the class introduce themselves so Beck didn't know what the girl's name was. He had noticed her when she first walked in the door that day, she was beautiful, and everyone noticed her. Funny thing was she didn't notice everyone noticing her. She sat away from everyone staring out the window, playing with a pair of scissors. But that was yesterday, this is today and Beck decided that he wanted to get to know her. Beck grabs his backpack off of the floor and flings it over his shoulder and casually walks up to the girl's locker.

"Hey." He says as he leans against the locker next to her.

The girl, who was busy working on something inside of her locker stops and peeks her head around the door of the locker and slowly scans Beck from head to toe. She stops and looks at his boots...she liked them, but she still didn't want to be bothered. Her eyes scan back up from his boots to his eyes and when they make eye contact Beck gives a gentle smile and waves to which she says nothing and goes back to working in her locker. Her lack of interest in him was disheartening. He was used to the girls all coming up to him wanting to talk, go out, and play in his hair. He wasn't used to this...why didn't she like him he wondered. He decided to try to talk some more, maybe she would come around. He pushed himself off the locker he leaned against and walked around and stood behind her.

"I'm Beck." He says. "We had a class together yesterday." He waits for a response and still he gets nothing. "What are you working on there?" He asks looking over her shoulder.

The girl slightly turns her head and looks over her shoulder at the eager young man. She rolls her eyes and slams the locker shut.

"So are you going to tell me what you were working on?" He says

"No." She finally says before walking away.

Beck watches her walk away and round the corner when Andre walks up to him.

"Hey, you're Beck right?" He says.

"Yeah, Andre?"

"Yeah, was that the girl in our acting class?"

"Yeah."

"She actually spoke to you?"

"Not really."

"What's her name?" Andre asks.

"I don't know and that was the only class I had with her."

"I have English with her, but she didn't say much... she seems kinda scary."

"You think so?" Beck laughs.

"Yeah."

"I don't know... she seems interesting to me."

"Well come on, maybe you'll get to know her in class today."

"Let's hope."

Beck and Andre walk down the hall and turn the corner and make their way to acting class. Beck straightens his clothes and runs his hand through his hair before walking into the room.


	2. Her Name Is Jade

Beck and Andre walk into Sikowitz's classroom just as the bell rings. Beck notices that the mysterious girl is not sitting by the window today, but is instead sitting in the second row aisle seat. He scans the room looking for a seat close to hers and sees a seat across the aisle from her. Just as he starts to walk to the seat a scraggly, nerdy looking guy rushes over and plops down in the seat and sits facing the girl. Beck stops and decides to sit in the back of class next to Andre. He watches the girl as she sits legs crossed, twirling strands of her hair around the blade of her scissors. He notices the scissors and realizes this scissor thing must be an everyday thing for her... so far. The girl stops twirling her hair around the scissors when she realizes the strange boy across the aisle is staring at her. She cuts her eyes at him and slowly turns to look at him. The boy grins from ear to ear happy that this girl has acknowledged him.

"Hi! I'm Sinjin." He says happily as he extends his hand to her.

The girl looks at his hand and coldly turns away staring at the front of the classroom. Beck sees this exchange and smiles. He wasn't sure what is was about her, but he liked her and found her amusing. Sinjin apparently liked her too because he continued to try to talk to her.

"You're pretty, do you have a boyfriend?" Sinjin says with hope in his eyes.

This time the girl doesn't even acknowledge him and instead picks up her belongings and moves to an empty seat in the first row. Just as she sits down, Sikowitz walks in and jumps up on the stage.

"Good afternoon children! We have a team exercise to do today but I realized that we never introduced ourselves to each other yesterday. Normally I would have everyone pull their chairs into a circle and introduce themselves, but we are running short on time today. I'm just going to call out everyone's name and when you hear your name stand and wave to the class. If you would rather go by a nickname, say it. Got it?"

Everyone gives a nod and waits for their name to be called.

"Alright, let's start with Leslie Booker...Nicole Carey... Tabitha Conner... Carlos Guerra... Andre Harris... Crystal Moore..."

"I like to go by Chrissy." She says ans she stands and waves.

"Alright class this is Chrissy Moore." He says before continuing to read the names. "Beck Oliver..."

Beck stands and waves hoping the mysterious girl in front will take notice but she doesn't move and instead just sits and watches the teacher on the stage.

"April Parks..." Sikowitz continues. "Robert Shapiro..."

"You can call me Robbie, or Rob, or Robert, it's whatever." Robbie says waving to everyone.

"Alright" Sikowitz says looking at the young man and shaking his head. "Robert Smith... Michael Tran..."

"Mikey." Michael says as he waves to the class.

"Okay, Mikey." Sikowitz continues. "Caterina Valentine..."

"I'm Cat! The perky redhead says jumping up out of her seat and eagerly waving to the class.

"That perky young lady likes to be called Cat." Sikowitz says extending his free hand in her direction. "Sinjin Van Cleef, and finally Jade West."

When Jade's name is called she stays seated with her arms crossed. Sikowitz walks over to her and sits on the edge of the stage in front of her.

"I take it you're Jade.." He says tapping the girl on the leg.

She gives a subtle nod and not much else.

"Would you like to stand and wave to the class so that everyone knows who you are?"

"Well I'm the only one left, so it's not hard to figure out." She says sarcastically.

Sikowitz stands up and walks around to the back of Jade's chair and takes her by the shoulders and lifts her from her seat. He puts his arm around her and spins her for the entire class to see.

"Class this is Jade West, Jade West these are your classmates... say hello."

Jade tightens her lips gives the teacher a dirty look.

"Come on now, I know you can do it." He says with his face right next to hers.

"Hello." She says dryly as she gives a half-heated wave to the class.

"AH!" Sikowitz yells with delight. "I knew you could do it. Now you may take a seat."

Jade quickly sits and rolls her eyes. Beck smiles knowing that he now knows her name. It was Jade, Jade West. He liked her name, he liked her without even knowing her.


	3. Mirrors

"Today we will be doing a mirroring exercise." Sikowitz explains. "You will select a partner and the two of you will decide who will be the leader and who will be the mirror. You will mimic your partner's motions until the two of you become one. Usually you would start this exercise about two to three feet apart, but because you all are amateurs, you will start as close as possible palms touching. The more comfortable you become, I will have you step back... capiche. Now everyone...find a partner."

Everyone in the class scatters, looking for someone to partner with. Jade slides down in her seat and lays her head against the back of her chair and stares at the ceiling.

"JADE WEST!" Sikowitz yells "Will you be finding a partner today?'

"I'm good." She says still staring at the ceiling.

"I'll be your partner!" Sinjin says running up to her.

Jade turns and stares at Sinjin.

"Or, we can partner up next time." He says before running off.

Jade lays her head back on the back of the chair and cracks a smile finding pleasure in the fact that just a look from her sent Sinjin running .

"Jade, if you don't find a classmate to partner with... I'll have to be your partner." Sikowitz says sitting in the chair next to her. "I don't think you want that, now do you?"

"I'd rather light my hair on fire." She says turning to Sikowitz, giving him a sarcastic grin.

"Ah Jade, I find your bitterness quite refreshing."

"Excuse me."

"People like our perky red-headed friend over there that are usually happy and kind don't have a lot going on, but people like you who tend to be mean and bitter and quiet usually have a several layers to them. There's a back story buried under that hard shell and eventually it will come to light." Sikowitz says as he leans into her.

"Sorry, there's no back story here. That's just who I am." Jade says staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, can we be partners?" Jade hears someone say. She opens her eyes to find Beck standing over her.

"No." Jade says as she closes her eyes.

"YES!" Sikowitz yells jumping to his feet. "Yes ,you can be her partner. Jade come, this handsome young man wants to be your partner."

"I don't want him to be my partner." Jade snaps.

"Well there's no one left. So I guess you're stuck with me." Beck shrugs.

"So how exactly did the cutest guy in class end up being the one left without a partner?" She says sitting up and turning to look at him.

"So you think I'm the cutest guy in class?" He says flashing Jade a flirtatious smile.

"Oh please."

Beck kneels down next to Jade's chair and leans in close to her.

"I think you're the cutest girl in class, if it means anything." He whispers to her.

"Well it doesn't." Jade says as she gets out of her chair and stands in front of Sikowitz. "Come on Sikowitz, I'd rather be your partner."

"Oh noooo Ms. West. " Sikowitz begins. "This young man is capable of being your partner. Come young Beck. Ms West awaits you."

Beck walks over to Jade and she reluctantly turns to him. She stands about three feet away from him and puts her hands up. Beck puts his hands up and goes to place his hands on her hands when she pulls away.

"What?" Beck asks.

"I don't like people touching me." Jade says

"Oh come on you two." Sikowitz says as he takes his hands and places one on Beck's back and the other on Jade's back. He pushes them together so that they were right up against each other. "Hands up you two." He says as he puts their hands together. "Stay like this until I tell you that you may step apart."

Beck and Jade begin to do the mirroring exercise. Beck looks down at Jade, but Jade looks down at the floor. He tries to get her attention, but she still ignores him.

"I think we're supposed to look at each other." He whispers to her.

Jade continues to look at the floor until Sikowitz notices she is not making eye contact with her partner.

"Jaaade. You must look at your partner. Look into your partner, look into his eyes and he must look into your eyes. Come on, let me see it."

Jade takes a deep breath and looks up into Beck's eyes and he looks into hers. Beck kinda saw her eyes before but never saw how beautiful they were. He's taken off guard and smiles at her. Jade smiles back, but just because she is mirroring him and has to do everything he does. The two of them make slow motions to mirror each other even matching each others breathing.

"YES!" Sikowitz says as he studies the two of them. "Look deep into the other's eyes, feel each others' being. Yes, wonderful." He continues. "Beck look deep down and see if you can get into her head, peel back some of those layers, get under that tough exterior and see into her soul... find out her back story, pain, loss, whatever it is buried underneath.

Jade becomes uncomfortable and breaks eye contact with Beck. She grabs her belongings from off the chair and storms out of class. Beck looks at Sikowitz and shrugs.

"I didn't do anything, I swear." He says, quickly defending himself.

"I know." Sikowitz says. "Get your belongings and go see about your partner. Here is your assignment for tomorrow. You will have to work on it with her."

"Okay." Beck says as he takes the assignment paper from Sikowitz and gathers his belongings so that he could go look for Jade in the hallway. As Beck walks the halls he finally finds Jade sitting in the floor underneath her locker. He casually walks over to her and sits beside her.

"What? Are you following me now?" She says

"No, Sikowitz sent me after you. Why did you leave?"

"I don't like to be psychoanalyed. I thought that was supposed to be an acting class, not a therapist's office."

"Do you go to a therapist." Beck asks.

"No, why would you think that?"

"Just asking. Hey, we still have to be partners for another assignment. Here's the paper if you want to look it over."

Beck hands the paper to Jade and she snatches it out of his hand and looks it over. She stands up and sticks the paper in her locker and starts to walk off.

"So when are we going to get together?" Beck calls out after her.

"I'll let you know." Jade says before disappearing in the hall.


	4. Lunch Chatter

It's lunchtime and Jade sits alone at a table eating her salad and reading a book. There is a strong breeze that keeps blowing her hair around, causing it to constantly fall in her face. She swings her head back a few times hoping her hair will stay put before finally resorting to eating with one hand and holding her hair back with the other. Beck and Andre are at the grub truck ordering their lunches when Andre turns around and looks for a table for them to sit at.

"Look, that girl from class is sitting alone. You wanna sit there?" He asks Beck.

"Yeah, that's cool." Beck says. As He and Andre wait for their food, they watch Jade as large gust of wind blows and knocks over her coffee. Jade, furious over her spilled coffee, bangs the table and throws the now empty cup across the Asphalt Cafe. Beck sees how upset she is and places an order for another cup of coffee for her. Once their food was ready they make their way to the table where Jade was wiping up the spilled coffee with the few napkins she had.

"Need some napkins?" Andre says handing Jade a large stack of napkins.

"Yeah, thanks." Jade says taking the pile of napkins from Andre.

"I got you a coffee." Beck says holding the fresh cup of coffee in Jade's direction.

"Why?" She asks suspiciously.

"Well, I saw that you spilled yours... thought I would be nice and get you another one.

"What's in it?"

"Nothing.. I just picked up some sugar and cream. Do you want it?"

"I guess." Jade says taking the coffee.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" Andre asks still standing with his food in hand.

"I do, but since you gave me napkins and you gave me coffee, I guess it'll be okay... for today."

"Thanks." Beck says as he and Andre sit on the opposite side of the table.

"Why are you sitting here by yourself?" Beck asks.

"I like to be alone... people tend to bother me." She says as she takes two of the sugar packets, rips them open, and pours them in her coffee. "What's your name?" She says motioning to Andre.

"Andre, remember we had class together?"

"The only people I remember from class is him because I was forced to work with him and that kid that stares at me everyday. He really creeps me out."

"Who is that?" Andre asks.

"I don't know his name."

"I think its Sanjay or something like that." Beck says.

"Sanjay?" Jade says skeptically. "Sanjay is an Indian name... that kid is whiter than me."

"I really think that's what he said his name is." Beck says seriously.

"Whatever... I know Sanjay, or whatever his name is, better back off before I put a restraining order out on him."

Beck and Andre continue to talk as Jade sits quietly and eats. She takes a sip of her coffee and savors the taste. She shuts her eyes and slowly swallows and the corners of her mouth turn up into a small smile.

"Is it good." Beck laughs having seen how happy she was drinking her coffee.

Jade's smile turns to a scowl and she cuts her eye at Beck for disrupting her.

"You sure know how to ruin a moment." She snaps.

"You were having a moment... with your coffee?"

"YES! Is that a problem?"

Beck throws his hands up in a surrender not wanting to irritate her anymore.

"Hey, isn't that girl in our class?" Andre says pointing to a red-headed girl who was aimlessly walking around.

"Yeah, I think she said her name was Cat. It looks like she's looking for somewhere to sit." Beck says.

Andre throws his hand in the air and waves it around trying to get Cat's attention. Jade practically leaps across the table and yanks his hand down.

"What the hell are you doing?" She snaps.

"I'm inviting her over to sit." Andre says putting his hand back in the air.

"I thought I was sitting here alone before you two came over and now you want to invite more people."

"Come on Jade." Beck says. "Look at her, she needs somewhere to sit."

"Fine, whatever." Jade says as she goes back to drinking her coffee.

"CAT!" Andre calls out finally getting her attention. "You can sit here."

Cat peps up and comes running over to the table. She sits her food on the table and sits next to Jade.

"Thanks for letting me sit here... I'm Cat! And you're Beck, you're Andre and you're Jade right?" She rambles. "I remember your names from Mr. Sikowitz's class. I thought I would never find somewhere to sit. It's so crowed out here. So are you all friends? I can be friends with you too.. I mean if you want."

"First of all, I am not friends with_ any_ of you, and you talk waay too much." Jade says turning away from her.

"I'm sorry. I tend to ramble when I'm nervous." Cat says as she twirls her hair.

"Why are you nervous? Andre asks her.

"Well I didn't know where I was going to sit, and I never got a chance to talk to you all in class. And honestly... she scares me a little." She says pointing to Jade.

Jade smiles at Cat's confession that she scares her.

"She seems mean, but she's harmless." Beck tells Cat giving her a playful wink.

"How would you know? You don't even know me. We worked together once and now you think you're an expert on all things Jade?" Jade says waving her fork at him.

"I don't think you're as mean as you want people to think you are." Beck argues back.

"Here we go again. I want you and that psycho teacher to stop trying to analyze me."

"I wasn't trying to..."

"Look I'm over this. It's getting a little too crowded at this table anyway." Jade says as she starts to gather her belongings. She begins to walk away, when Beck calls her back.

"Jade!" He yells.

"WHAT!" She yells back even louder.

"We still have to work on our project together. Can I have your phone number so that I can call you?" Beck says getting up from the table and walking after her.

"My number... no. Give me your address, I'll come over around 4 after I finish my audition for the full moon jam."

"I thought you had to be at least a sophomore to perform in the full moon jam."

"And.."

"You're only a freshman. You're not allowed to perform yet."

"Don't tell me what I am and am not allowed to do."

"I wasn't trying to tell you..."

"Are you going to give me your address or not!" Jade barks.

"Okay. let me get a pen and paper."

Jade and Beck walk back to the table where Cat was chatting up Andre. Jade stands with her hands on her hips, impatiently tapping her foot while Beck writes down his address. Once he's done he hands her the paper and she fiercely snatches it from him and storms off. Beck watches her as she walks through the asphalt café and back into the school. He runs his hand through his hair and takes a bite of his sandwich.

"Was she mad that I was sitting here?" Cat asks sadly.

"No, I think she was mad that we _all_ were sitting here." Andre laughs.

Beck shakes his head in agreement and the three of them continue to eat lunch and get to know each other.


	5. Backyard Blunders

"Aren't you going to come in for a snack?" Beck's mom says as she watches Beck start walking down the driveway.

"Not today mom." He says turning back to her. "I have to straighten up before Jade gets here."

"_Jade_..." His mom says playfully. "Who is Jade?"

"Calm down mom, she's just my partner in class. We have to write a scene together. She might knock on the door, I forgot to tell her to come to the back."

"Alright, I'll listen out for her."

"Thanks mom." Beck says as he runs down the driveway and into his RV. Once inside he checks the time and sees that it is 3:45, not a lot of time. Usually a neat freak, Beck, was running late that morning and couldn't put everything away. He made his bed and picked up the dirty clothes scattered about on the floor. He runs in his parents' house and gets the vacuum cleaner and takes it back to his RV and quickly vacuums the floor. Once he had everything in place he checks himself out in the mirror and decides to change his shirt since the one he was wearing had gotten sweaty. He grabs a can of air freshener and sprays excessively, all throughout the RV. Once he had everything in order, he laid back on his bed and waited for Jade to arrive.

* * *

Jade and her mother pull up in front of a beautiful house at the end of a cul-de-sac and turn the car off. Jade pulls the paper that Beck gave her out of her pocket and looks it over.

"Is this it?" Her mom says leaning over her and looking at the house through the passenger side window.

"That's what it says" Jade says as she stares out of the window.

"Well go ring the doorbell, I'll wait." Her mom says.

Jade grabs her backpack out of the backseat of her mom's car . She gets out and slings the bag over her shoulder and makes her way up the driveway, to the front door. She pushes the doorbell and looks around while she waits for someone to answer the door. While waiting, she spots a small bunny rabbit in the bushes and kneels down to get a closer look. Just as she takes her hand and makes and opening in the bushes the door flings open. Startled, Jade jumps up and faces the person standing at the door. "Umm, hi. I'm here for Beck... We have an assignment to do together."

"Oh, you must be Jade." The woman says. "I'm Beck's mom. He's in the back... Come on, I'll take you." She says gently taking Jade by the arm and leading her inside the house.

Jade turns back and gives her mom a wave to let her know that she can go, and then she proceeds to follow Beck's mom through the house. As they walk through Jade glances at the family pictures on the walls and lets out a chuckle at a picture of a naked baby on the wall. Beck's mom stops and turns to see what she was laughing at and laughs once she realizes which picture she saw.

"He begs me to take that picture down, but I just think it's too cute." His mom laughs.

They finally get to the back door and walk down the back driveway. Beck's mom leads her to a small RV in the backyard and knocks on the door.

"He's in here." She says smiling at Jade.

Beck opens the door and peeks his head out. "Oh hey, you're here!" He says looking at Jade. "Thanks for bringing her out Mom." He says as he gives his mom a small peck on the forehead.

"No problem Dear. It was nice meeting you Jade.' His mother says. "Maybe I'll see you before you leave." She says as she starts back up the driveway.

"Well, welcome to my home!" Beck says as he comes down the stairs to greet Jade.

"_Your home?" _a confused Jade says, eyes scanning the silver RV.

"Yeah... I live out here." Beck grins.

"Why." Jade questions. "Your house is nice, do your parents not want you in there?"

"No, they do. They used to get on me all the time about being on the phone too late and wanted me to go to bed early and I told them that I am old enough to decide those things for myself."

"So they put you out?"

"No. They just said that as long as I lived under their roof I have to live by their rules...so... I got my own roof."

"Impressive..." Jade says flashing a smile.

"Come on in, we can get started."

"Um... let's sit out here." Jade says hesitantly.

"Why? I keep it pretty clean in there.

"No, let's just sit out here." She says as she walks away and finds a place to sit in the backyard.

"Alright, let me grab my things." Beck goes back inside of his RV and grabs his backpack. He glances out the window and watches Jade as she takes a notebook out and lays in the grass. He grabs a blanket from off of the bed and brings it out with him. "Here, I got a blanket so you don't have to lay in the grass."

"Cool." Jade says standing and moving her stuff so that Beck can lay the blanket down. "So what kind of scene do you want to do?" She asks him.

"What?" Beck asks.

"Um.._Hellooo_... our assignment?" She says giving him a dirty look. She takes the crumpled assignment paper out of her backpack and reads. "You and your partner must write a scene or partial scene of only one page long. You will perform your scene for the class, and after all scenes are performed the class will vote on the best scene. The pair with the best scene will get to choose a team to help write and perform the play for the freshman showcase. All students will be involved either on stage or off. The pair whose play is chosen gets an automatic 'A' for the semester."

"Oh,I don't know..."

"I want that 'A', so this needs to be good. Maybe we should narrow it down by category."

"OKay. So we have comedy, tragedy, historical, farce, and satire. Which one are you more comfortable doing?" Beck asks flipping through their textbook.

"I can do anything" Jade says, "what about you?"

"I can do whatever, but I didn't ask what you can do, I asked what you are more comfortable doing."

"I think I would rather do a comedy or tragedy. I definitely _do not _want to do farce. I'm okay with being funny, but not all that craziness"

"OKay. umm... do you want to do a straight play or a musical." Beck asks. "Can you sing?'

"I sing." Jade quips. "But I don't think we should be thinking about that right now. It's only a page long, we can get into that _if _our play is chosen."

"Sounds good. Why don't we do a tragedy." Beck suggests. "I feel like it takes time to get into a comedy, at least with a tragedy we can do one big compelling scene and leave them wanting more."

"Sounds good to me." Jade says. She sits up and looks up at the sun and rubs her arm. " I didn't realize that the sun would still be beaming so bad..."

"Do you want to go inside?"

"No..."

"Do you want some sunscreen?"

"Why would you offer me sunscreen?"

"I don't know. You're complaining about the sun, You have pretty fair skin... I don't want you to get sunburn from doing homework. Do you want some or not?"

"Sure. Whatever."

Beck walks back to the RV with Jade in tow. She sits on the steps and waits for him to return with the sunscreen. Beck goes inside and reaches up on a shelf and pulls down a bottle of sunscreen. He comes back to the door and hands it to Jade who takes it and starts to put some on. As she rubs the lotion on her arm she cuts her eye at Beck, who she can see is watching her.

"What?" She says sharply.

"Huh?"

"Why do you keep looking at me?"

"Oh, I was just trying to see if you needed any help."

"I'm alright." Jade says now rubbing sunscreen on her other arm. Once the sunscreen is on her arms she pulls her hair over her shoulder and tries to rub some on the exposed areas of her back, Beck, although trying not to, continues to watch her rub the lotion on herself and once again she catches him.

"You're staring again." She playfully sings snapping him out of his trance.

"Sorry." He says, walking away.

"Hey! I think I do need your help now. Can you just get these bare areas of my back?"

"Sure." Beck says walking back to Jade. He picks up the sunscreen and is about to pour some in his hand when Jade stops him and grabs his hand.

"Here, I still have some on my hand." She says as she rubs the extra sunscreen onto Beck's palm. She turns her back to him and hangs her head down. "Do you see where I was talking about?" She yells back to him.

"Yeah." Beck says as he gently rubs sunscreen on the parts of Jade's back and shoulders that weren't covered by her shirt.

"I thought you didn't like people touching you." Beck says jokingly.

"Eh, I'll make an exception... this time." Jade says hopping up off of the step and running back into the yard.

"You know you're supposed to wait 15 minutes before going out in the sun, right?" Beck calls out after her.

"It'll be fine." Jade says as she suddenly springs into a handstand.

"Now that's impressive." Beck says walking out towards her in the yard.

"Thanks!" Jade says while smiling.

"Yeah, especially since you're boob is coming out." Beck says with a sheepish grin.

"What!?" A horrified Jade says trying to look and see. The movement from her trying to see causes her to lose her balance and she comes crashing down, hitting her head on the ground. "Uhh." She groans as she lies on the ground rubbing her head.

Beck runs over to her and helps her sit up. "I'm so sorry... I was just playing, I didn't think you would fall."

Jade snatches away from him and pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her head on her knees.

Beck feels awful about making her fall and sits down beside her. He starts to put his hand on her back, but pulls away. "I'm really sorry... I honestly thought we would get a laugh out of it." He says helplessly.

"Well I'm not laughing." Jade snaps.

"Let's go inside, I'll get you some ice for your head."

Beck stands and offers his hand to Jade. She declines, and instead stands up on her own. She continues to rub her head as they make their way back to the house in the backdoor. Beck takes her to the kitchen and pulls out a chair for her to sit in.

"Hey mom!" Beck yells out. "What happened to the ice packs?"

Beck's mom comes in and sees Jade sitting at the table rubbing her head. "What happened? " She says taking Jade's face and looking at her head.

"I just fell and hit my head." Jade says quietly.

"Oh my, are you okay?"

"Yeah. It just hurts a little."

"Do I need to call your mom? Do you need to see a doctor?"

"I don't think so. It wasn't that hard. "

"Mom, the ice packs?" Beck says interrupting her.

"Beck, look in my bathroom closet. We have some of those that you fill with ice." Becks mom says shooing him away.

"I want you two to work in here so that I can keep an eye on you. Is your mom picking you up?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well I'll let her know what happened when she picks you up so that she can keep an eye on you tonight. You seem alright, I don't think you have a concussion, but just to be safe."

"Okay." Jade says quietly.

"I don't know what's taking Beck so long... maybe he got lost." Beck's mom says pulling a smile from Jade. "I guess we'll make small talk. Are you a freshman also?"

"Yeah."

"Well I know that you have to have some talent to go to Hollywood Arts, what's yours... if you don't mind me asking."

"No, I don't mind. I sing, act, write and direct."

"Wow. So what do your parents do?"

"Well my mom doesn't really do anything anymore. She used to be an artist, but when she married my dad she became a housewife. My dad isn't into artsy stuff. I don't even know how they ended up together."

"Well what does your father do?"

"Oh, he's an attorney."

"Oh my an attorney... He's not going to sue us for injuring his daughter is he?" Beck's mom laughs.

"I seriously doubt it." Jade laughs.

Beck walks in and fills the ice pack with ice and hands it to Jade. "What's so funny?" He asks them.

"Nothing, Jade an I were just talking." Beck's mom says as she pats Jade's hand. "I told Jade that I want you two to work in here so that I can check in on her and make sure she's really okay. So go get your stuff and bring it in."

"Alright." Beck says walking towards the back door.

"Do you two want a snack or a drink? We have plenty."

"Mom, I told you we are alright."

"You said you were alright, you can't speak for Jade. Maybe _she_ wants something."

"I'm okay." Jade says.

"Are you sure, we have cake."

"Ooh, I do like cake." Jade says looking up from the table.

"It's chocolate."

Jade let's out a small gasp and her eyes widen. "Ohmygod... I love chocolate cake."

"Well let me cut you slice, Beck?"

"No thank you Mom." He says as he finally goes out the door and gathers his and Jade's belongings from the back yard.

Beck's mom cuts Jade a big slice of cake and sits it on the table in front of her. "Here you go. I'm going to leave you two alone so that you can get some work done. Feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen and if you start to feel bad, have Beck get me alright?"

"Okay, thank you."

"No problem sweetie."

Beck's mom leaves the kitchen and heads up the stairs just as Beck is coming back inside. He enters the kitchen to see Jade happily eating a giant slice of cake.

"Do you have enough cake?" He asks her.

"Um Hm." She giggles while stuffing her face with the cake.

"Where did my mom go?"

"She went upstairs."

"Oh, okay... Well since we're alone can I ask you a question?" Beck starts.

"Ugh." Jade grunts "What is it?" She whines.

"You were so nice to my mom, why aren't you like that to everyone? "

"You're mom is cool... I like her."

"Why are you so hard on everyone else?" He asks seriously.

"I don't know... weeding out the weak." Jade shrugs.

"I'm serious, Why are you so difficult?"

"Because easy is boring." Jade says. "If someone is going to be in my life in any aspect they need to be able to deal with the good and the bad. I don't want to be in any situation, friendship or relationship, where everything is easy and sweet. You become complacent and bored. It's hard, but it keeps you on your toes, it keeps other people on their toes. Trust me, if I get to know a person and like them, I'm not as hard on them anymore because they stuck around through it all, but I'm never completely easy to deal with. Because like I said... easy is boring...remember that." She says looking at Beck who is just nodding in agreement. "Is that a good enough answer for you?"

"Yeah." Beck says smiling at Jade.

"Good, now are you ready to work on this assignment or what?"

"Sure." Beck says as he opens his notebook and begins to write.


	6. Mother Knows

It's 6:00 a.m. and the loud buzzing from Beck's alarm clock wakes him up. He sits up in the bed and stares at the wall trying not to fall back asleep. He finally pulls himself up out of bed and slowly walks across his RV. He grabs some clothes, a pair of shoes, and his keys. He rubs his eyes as he opens the door to his RV and lets out a long drawn out yawn before finally walking out and up the driveway. He comes to the backdoor of his parents' house and sticks the key in. Before he could turn it his mom opens the door, startling him.

"Oh, hey honey. I was just on my way out to get you. I thought you overslept." She says.

"No... just tired. It just took a little longer to get up."

"Okay, well you go get in the shower, I'll make you some breakfast... okay."

"Alright."

Beck heads up the stairs to the bathroom and gets in the shower. He turns the water on as hot as it would go and stands directly underneath the shower head hoping the water would help wake him. He washes his hair and takes a shower. When he finishes his shower he steps out and wraps a towel around his waist and pushes the wet hair out of his face. He brushes his teeth and exits the bathroom and heads to the room that was once his. He dries off and slowly dresses himself. He finally drags himself down the stairs and into the kitchen where his mom has a plate of pancakes, sausage and eggs waiting for him. He grabs a cup and pours a tall glass of orange juice and sits at the table and begins eating his breakfast when his mom comes in and sits across from him.

"This is really good mom, thanks." He tells her.

"No problem... So why are you so tired this morning?"

"I don't know."

"Were you up all night?"

"Not because I wanted to be, I just couldn't fall asleep. I had a lot on my mind."

"Like what? Is everything okay?" She asks concerned.

"Yeah, we just really want to nail this scene today. If we're chosen we both get an 'A' for the semester and our play gets put into production at school. This is a big deal."

"_We? _You and Jade?"

"Yeah... she is my partner."

"Ohhh, okay..."

"What?"

"I've never seen you stress over acting before. You usually take the cool and calm approach. Why are you so worked up now? Especially over something you wrote yourself." Beck's mom asks.

"I don't know."

"Um, hmm... You want to know what I think?"

"Not really, but I'm sure you're going to tell me." Beck says slumping back in his chair.

"I think this is all about that Jade girl, you want to impress her." Beck's mom says, raising her brow.

"No... I don't want to impress her. I think she's cool and all, but she's just my partner."

"She seems like a nice girl."

"Oh, she's not that nice." Beck laughs.

"And you find that charming..." His mom says smiling.

"Where are you getting this from?"

"I can just tell. Anyway, did you call and check on her last night and make sure she was okay?"

"No, she won't give me her phone number."

Beck's mom laughs and gets up from the table. She grabs something off the counter and hands it to Beck.

"Here, give this to her when you see her today." She says.

"Really Mom?"

"YES! Give it to her!"

"Alright. Can we get going, I don't want to be late to school." Beck says pushing himself away from the table.

"Sure, lets go."

Beck runs to his RV and grabs his backpack and meets his mom in the car. She drives him to school and drops him off at the back entrance.

"Have a good day." She yells out the window as he runs down the sidewalk.


	7. The Scene

"Morning Festus. Can I get a medium coffee, splash of cream...two sugars. " Beck says letting out a long yawn.

"Sure thing young man, two dollars." Festus says as he retreats back inside the Grub Truck to get the coffee.

Beck pulls his wallet out of his pocket and fishes out two dollars. "Hey Fes, can you make it two medium coffees... just leave the cream out of the second one." He yells in the truck.

"Still two sugars?"

"Yeah."

"No problem, it will be four dollars all together." Festus says bringing the two cups of coffee to the window.

Beck takes two more dollars out of his pocket and hands the money to Festus.

"This is the one with the cream... this one, no cream." Festus says sliding the cups toward Beck and taking the money.

"Thanks Man." Beck says grabbing the coffees and running off to class. He makes it to Sikowitz's class just as the bell rings, He looks around and finds Jade sitting in the front of the class and walks up to her. "Hey." He says standing beside her chair.

"Hey." She says as she cuts a pattern into a piece of paper.

Here, I got you a coffee." Beck says holding a cup towards her.

"Why?"

"Again, just being nice."

"What's in it?"

"Two sugars... isn't that what you put in your coffee the other day? No cream."

Jade takes her eyes off of her paper and looks at Beck. She studies him for a moment unsure of his motives.

"Do you want it or not?" Beck says, gently shaking the cup.

Jade grabs the cup and takes a sip of the coffee. "Thanks." She says softly.

"No problem."

"We're still not friends."

"Of course not." Beck says as he squeezes past her and sits in the seat next to her. "I was up all night going over this scene." He whispers to her.

"Yeah me too."

"Are you nervous? I think I'm a little nervous." He says taking a sip of his coffee.

"_WHAT? _No I'm not nervous!" Jade says as her brow begins to furrow. "Why are _you_? Isn't this what you're here for?" She snaps.

"Yeah... I don't know, I don't usually get nervous..."

"Oh my God, you're gonna choke!" A furious Jade says, slapping Beck on the leg.

"No, I'm not going to..."

"You better get it together! I am _not _going to let you screw this up for me."

"I'm not going to choke! But you fussing at me is not going to make things any better."

"You're right." Jade says as she gently places her hand on his arm. "Stop stressing, you were great when we practiced this last night... I was really impressed."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I don't impress easily." Jade laughs. "You've got this."

"_We've_ got this." Beck say shooting Jade a quick smile.

"Oh yeah, I changed one little part of our scene." Jade says as she grabs her backpack and fishes through it for her notebook. She pulls it out and flips to the page where they had written out their scene. "I think this would be perfect!"

Beck reads the paper and as he gets to the last part he turns and looks at Jade. "A ki-kiss?"

"Yeah, think of it. She's _dying_... if your one true love was on their deathbed wouldn't you kiss her in her final moments?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And I think the kiss will just put the scene over the top, don't you think."

"Jade West, and Beck Oliver... please come and prepare to do your scene." Sikowitz says stepping down from the stage and walking to the back of the classroom.

Jade jumps up and starts to stack a couple of chairs. Once she has them stacked Beck carries them to the stage and lines them up. He then helps Jade lay down on the chairs and he pulls a chair up beside her. He was still trying to process the idea of the kiss. He was nervous before but now he was nervous for a whole different reason. He starts to think about how he wished he had been chewing gum instead of drinking coffee, and what made Jade think of putting a kiss in the scene, did she like him... so many thoughts were running through his mind. He stares off into space and can faintly hear a voice talking to him.

"Are you ready?" The voice says. Beck snaps out of his trance and looks down at Jade who is giving him a reassuring grin.

He nods and looks at Sikowitz "We're ready." He says.

"Alright then" Sikowitz begins "You two may begin."

Jade sinks into the chairs she is lying on as she goes into character. She makes her body go weak and her breathing becomes shallow. Her usually strong, loud voice was now a raspy whisper. "_What I wouldn't give to feel the wind softly brush against my cheek...To have the warm sting of the sun upon my skin..."_ Her eyes begin to fill as she talks. _"To walk hand in hand with you along the beach."_ Tears start to roll down her cheeks.

_"Don't cry my love." _ Beck begins as he wipes the tears from her face. _"For I will never leave you."_ He grabs her hand.

_"GO! Live your life." _ Jade says as she snatches her hand away. _"Leave me here to perish...alone. Be happy...and move on."_

_"My love, for I shall never leave you to be alone. I shall sit here and count the days until we can be together, and take that walk on the beach...as the wind and my lips gently caress your cheek."_

Beck takes a deep breath and leans in and kisses Jade. As they pull away they look into each others' eyes both feeling a chemistry that was more than the characters they were playing. Jade remembers to stay in character and slowly closes her eyes and feigns death. Beck, as his distraught character, begins to sob as he lays his head on her.

Sikowitz who was following along on the paper they gave him jumped down from the table he was sitting on and started clapping. "WONDERFUL!" He boasts. "I'm surprised to see such great acting from a freshman class. You two were perfect...take a seat."

Jade and Beck collect the chairs and return to their seats in the classroom. "You were great!" Jade whispers to Beck. "Thanks, so were you!" Beck whispers back as he lightly nudges her in the ribs. They both sit quietly as they watch the rest of their classmates do their scenes.


	8. Cake In Your Face

"Hey Jade!" Cat says, rushing over to sit next to Jade at the lunch table.

"Hey." Jade responds flatly , eyes still glued to her pizza. "Wait... why are you here?"

"To eat lunch, silly!" Cat smiles.

"Okay, but why are you sitting here?"

"Because we're friends! We sat together yesterday."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we're..."

"What's up ladies!" An upbeat Andre says as he and Beck approach the table and sit opposite Jade and Cat.

"Oh my God, what's happening right now?" Jade mutters to herself.

"I hope you guys don't mind, but I invited my friend Robbie to sit with us." Cat says.

"Isn't that the kid with the puppet?" Jade asks.

"Um hmm, his name is Rex."

"That does it, I'm out of here." Jade says collecting her belongings.

"No!" Cat screams pulling Jade by the arm. "I want you guys to meet him. He's really cool."

"There is nothing _cool_ about a guy who carries a puppet around everyday."

"Come on Jade, be nice." Beck says, stifling a cough.

"Ew, are you getting sick?" Jade says, eyes widening.

"What, no... I'm not sick. Oh, I forgot.. I have something for you."

"For me?" Jade says pointing to herself.

"Yeah."

"Why do you keep bringing me stuff?"

"Well that's what friends do." Beck chuckles.

"We are not fre...why does everyone keep calling me their friend. I am not your friend, or yours." She says, pointing to Cat. Maybe I'll consider being his. I like him." Jade says, pointing to Andre.

"Me?" Andre says, pointing to himself. "Well alright." He says giving Beck a nudge,

"Him? I'm the one you've been working with the last couple of days." Beck says.

"What can I say, he's kinda cool." Jade says nonchalantly.

"Yeah man, I'm kinda cool." Andre says confidently, causing Jade to chuckle.

"Well since you think Andre's so much cooler than me, maybe I'll just give this big slice of chocolate cake my mom sent you to someone else." Beck says, waving the cake around.

Jade's eyes widen at the sight of the cake. "Your mom sent me a slice of cake! I knew I liked that woman. Give it to me." She says, reaching for the cake.

"No,no." Beck says pulling the plate back.

"GIVE IT TO ME!" Jade snaps, reaching for the cake again.

"ROBBIE!" Cat yells standing and waving to her friend. "WE'RE OVER HERE!"

Robbie waves to Cat and makes his way through the crowd to their table. Having no other option, he sits on a bench in between Jade and Beck getting caught in their game of keep-away. "What's going on here?" He asks Cat.

"Oh, Beck won't give Jade the cake because she thinks Andre is cooler than him. Do you want to sit with me and Jade?"

"No, there's no room... This is fine."

"Hey man, my name's Andre. You're in Sikowitz's class aren't you?" Andre says, reaching over Beck and Jade to shake Robbie's hand.

"Yeah, I'm Robbie... nice to meet you."

"Aren't you gonna introduce me?" Robbie's puppet says.

"Not now!" Robbie whispers to it, lowering it in his lap.

"I'll introduce you!" Cat says happily. "Andre, that's Rex! Rex, this is Andre."

"What's up Andre?" Rex says.

"Uhhh... what's up?" Andre says awkwardly.

"GIVE IT!" Jade says, finally getting a grip on the plate.

"No." Beck says, still tugging on the plate.

"Come on, gimmie gimme gimmie..."

"Fine." Beck says letting go of the plate. "Hey, I'm Beck...That's Jade."

"Hi, I'm Robbie."

"Yeah, I remember you from class."

"I'm Rex." Rex says.

"Hey." Beck says, turning to Andre and giving him a look.

"Hey there pretty lady." Rex says to Jade.

Jade cuts her eye at the puppet and then looks at Robbie. "Stop making your puppet talk to me." She says to him.

"Oh, he's not a puppet..." Robbie responds.

"He _is _a puppet, and I don't talk to puppets... ." Jade says, opening her cake.

"Grunch." Rex says quietly.

"What did you call me?" Jade says, glaring at Robbie.

"I didn't say it... It was Rex." Robbie says terrified.

Jade rolls her eyes and turns away from him. She finishes opening her cake and forks a piece off.

"Ohh, chocolate cake!" Cat says, reaching towards the cake.

"No!" Jade says, slapping Cat's hand away. "That's mine."

"Oww... you didn't have to hit me." Cat says sadly.

"Well don't touch my cake." Jade says as she resumes eating. She take a few bites but can't help but to keep looking at Cat, who was now pouting and rubbing her hand where Jade hit her. Jade lets out a sigh and slides the cake towards Cat. "Here, take a piece." She says reluctantly.

"Thanks." Cat says taking her fork and getting a chunk of cake.

"Aww... the grunch has a heart after all." Rex says chuckling.

Jade, now furious, breaks off a chunk of the cake with her hand and smears it across Rex's face.

"Hey!" Robbie says, wiping Rex's face off.

"I warned you about that damn puppet." Jade says, standing and removing her things from the table. "And you just made me waste half my cake...I really don't like you now." She says before finally storming off.


	9. The Jerk

"Hello Jade! What brings you by?" Beck's mother says opening the door.

"I didn't see Beck in school today, and I had some news for him... is he around?" Jade asks.

"Yeah, he's in his RV, like always, come on in."

"Thanks Mrs. Oliver."

"You can call me Stella... "

"Oh no, I can't"

"I insist." Stella says leading Jade through the house.

"Okay...Stella?" An uneasy Jade says. "Oh, I also wanted to thank you for sending the cake yesterday. I really wasn't expecting it."

Stella laughs. "It's no problem. We had plenty and you loved it when you were over the other day. So I told him to take you a slice."

Stella and Jade arrive at the backdoor. "You know the way." She says pointing at the RV. "I've been in and out all day so the door should be unlocked, just go on in."

"Thanks." Jade says, as she starts out the door.

"Oh, wait a minute Jade." Stella calls out.

"Yes."

"Can you do me a favor and take this tea to Beck. "

"No problem Stella." Jade smiles as Stella hands her the mug of hot tea. She carefully makes her way down the driveway to Beck's RV where she swings the door open and walks in. She finds Beck lying in the bed asleep and looking a mess. Jade laughs at the sight of a sick and sloppy Beck. It was a far cry from the boy she was used to seeing everyday at school. She studies him for a moment before deciding to take out her pear phone and snap a picture of him. "This is definitely going on the slap!" She chuckles to herself. She sits the tea on his table and leans down close to him. "Honey, wake up... I have your tea." She says imitating Stella's voice perfectly.

"Huh?" Beck says as he stirs under the blankets.

"Your tea sweetheart, come on and drink it while it's hot." Jade says, trying her best not to laugh.

Beck pulls the blankets from over his head and starts to cough. Jade jumps back in disgust and moves across the room. "I knew you were getting sick!" She yells, causing Beck to jump.

"What! Jade? What are you doing here... where's my mom?"

"She's in the house.. that was me telling you to get up."

"No, I know my mom's voice. "

"It was me sweety." Jade says impersonating Stella again.

"Whoa, I really thought you were my mom."

"Why thank you." Jade says, taking a bow. "There's your tea... she sent it out with me."

"Thanks." Beck says as he slowly lifts himself off the bed and makes his way to the table. "What are you doing here?"

"You weren't in class today, you missed the good news."

Beck stops sipping his tea and gives Jade a look of confusion. "That news?" He says.

"_THE NEWS_!" Jade says. "Our scene was chosen as the best, we get to make it into a full length play for the freshman showcase... not to mention our automatic A's for the semester!"

"That's great!" Beck says as he rushes over and hugs Jade. Jade embraces him for a moment before pushing him away. "Ew, you're sick, get off." She says turning her nose up.

"I'm sorry, I forgot." He says.

"Anyway, we were supposed to pick our team today and since _you_ weren't there. We are already a day behind. So do you want to put a team together now?"

"Don't we need to figure out what our play is about first."

"Oh, well we already know that my character gets sick and dies." Jade says.

"But what does she die of? Maybe it should be something..."

"Gradual..." Jade interjects. "Like maybe she was poisoned and throughout the play she gets sicker and sicker before she finally bites the dust. "

"Yeah, but who poisoned her?" Beck says. "We know it wasn't me, I just told her how much I loved her."

"I don't know..."

Jade and Beck sit in silence as they think.

"Maybe they can be a rich couple, and someone working for them wants to be with the husband so they poison the wife everyday to get her out of the way." Beck says.

"Yeah, like maybe a jealous maid that has always envied her lifestyle and been in love with her husband."

"Yeah."

"Okay, well we have what our play is about. We just need to pick two people to help us write it. Maybe Andre and Chrissy... I liked their scene, it was awesome. " Jade suggests.

"I'm starting to think you might have a thing for my boy Andre." Beck says.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you do seem to like him."

"I think he's a cool guy, and you have to admit that their scene was good. If ours didn't win, theirs would have."

"Ok, if you say so."

"Are you jealous?" Jade laughs.

"Jealous of what... I have no reason to be jealous." Beck tells her.

"Yes you are. Does it hurt your little ego that I might like someone more than I like you?"

"No, because I know you don't."

"Alright, I'll let you keep thinking that."

"If you like Andre more than you liked me, Andre would be your partner, and not me."

"I didn't want you as my partner. You moseyed your butt over and offered yourself to be my partner."

"Because you wanted me to. If you really didn't want to work with me you would have picked a different partner."

"I'm your partner because our psycho freak of a teacher made me partner up with you. And now I'm stuck with you for the rest of the semester." Jade says, as she grabs her backpack off the floor. "I think I'm gonna go inside and talk to Stella, I can't stand to be around you now."

"Stella? So you and my mom are on a first name basis now?. Beck says as he grabs his blanket and wraps it around himself.

Jade walks out of the RV and Beck follows behind her. She got halfway up the driveway before turning around to face him.

"Why are you following me." She says.

"I'm hungry, the food is in the house."

"I'm just going to go home... We'll finish working on this Monday."

"I thought you were going to talk to my mom?"

"Not with you there."

"Why not?"

"Maybe I wanted to tell her that her son is a big ole jerk."

"I'm a jerk?"

"Yeah, you are." Jade says as she walks away. "You wanna know why I don't like you?" She says turning to face him once again.

"Why?"

"Because you are just so disgustingly conceited and it makes me sick." She says as she walks off.

Beck jogs down the driveway after her and stops her. "Look Jade, I'm sorry if I've been a jerk. I didn't mean it. Just come inside and we can work on this project... okay."

"I'm going home."

"Come on, my mom will fix us something to eat and we can get our team together, that way we're not behind come Monday."

"No thanks, seeya Monday." Jade says as she walks down the driveway and onto the sidewalk, never once looking back.


	10. The Slap

**Jade West has added a new photo.**

_***Mr. Perfect looking not so perfect... lol***_

**Comments:**

** Amy Chester: **_omg, where did you get that picture of Beck?_

**Jade West:**_ None of your business._

**Amy Chester: **_He's cute, even when he is asleep._

**Jade West:**_ oh give me a break..._

**Jessica Bartlett:**_ Who gave you that pic?_

**Jade West:**_ No one gave it to me, I took it._

**Jessica Bartlett:**_ What were you doing at his house when he was asleep?_

**Jade West:**_ Minding my business... why don't you do the same._

**Beck Oliver: **_When did you take that picture of me sleeping?_

**Jade West: **_Before I woke you up the other day... What are you doing on my slap page?_

**Beck Oliver: **_I don't know._

**Jade West has updated her status:**

_***Apparently I have a creepy stalker!****_

**Comments:**

**Beck Oliver: **_Are you talking about me?_

** Jade West: **_Why are you still on my page?_

**Beck Oliver: **_Well you're talking about me._

**Jade West:**_ Eww, please get._

_***You have a new friend request from Beck Oliver.****_

_ ***Request Denied***_

_ ***Beck Oliver has been added to your list of blocked users.***_

_***You have a new friend request from Andre Harris.***_

_ ***Request Accepted***_

_ ***You are now friends with Andre Harris***_

**Andre Harris wrote on your wall:**

_Hey, Beck said why did you block him?_

**Comments:**

** Jade West: **_Because he's a pain in the ass._

**Andre Harris: **_lol, you're funny. He just wants to be your friend._

**Jade West: **_I already told him that I'm not interested in being his friend... and he knows why. _

**Andre Harris: **_I think you two just don't understand each other. Maybe you need to talk, outside of working on the project, and really get to know each other. If he sends you another request can you accept it. Maybe you two can inbox each other... work out your differences._

** Jade West: **_Fine, Whatever_

**Andre Harris:**_ Cool, I'll let him know. Unblock him. Okay._

**Jade West: **_Whatever_

_***Beck Oliver has been deleted from your list of blocked users***_

_***You have a new friend request from Beck Oliver***_

_ ***Request Accepted***_

_ ***You are now friends with Beck Oliver***_

**Beck Oliver wrote on your wall:**

_Hey, I really want to apologize for what happened earlier. I think we need to talk. If I inbox you my number, will you call me... please._

**Comments:**

** Jade West: **_Fine, inbox me._


	11. The Olive Branch

Jade lays across her bed staring at her phone trying to decide wether or not she wants to give Beck a call. She picks up her laptop and goes to her Slap page and opens the message with his phone number. It's been over an hour since he sent her his number, and another wall post asking if she was going to call. She starts to dial the number and then clears it out. She tosses the phone down and walks down the stairs to the kitchen and grabs a snack out of the cabinet. She sits at the dining room table and starts to eat when her mom walks past.

"Hey hun!" Her mom says, taking a seat at the table.

"Hey." Jade says somberly.

"What's wrong? You don't seem like your usually feisty self."

"You know that guy I'm writing that play with?"

"Yeah..."

"Well he wants me to call him."

"Ooooohh." Jade's mom says playfully.

"Cool it Jeana... It's not like that."

"Well what is it?"

"We've been having, I guess you can call it, personality clashes. It's like one day he's really cool, and the next day he's a conceited ass." She says as she takes a bite of her cookie.

"Is he trying to talk to you?"

"Oh God no, he's just getting under my skin."

"Well, you have to make things okay between the two of you. You're stuck working together for the rest of the semester... you might as well call and the two of you can work towards having a cordial relationship."

"I guess."

"Let me know how it goes, okay." Jeana says getting up from the table. "I'm gonna go order something for dinner."

Jeana and Jade both leave the table and Jade goes back to her bedroom. She picks up her phone, takes a deep breath and dials Beck's number. The phone rings three times and just as Jade pulls the phone away from her ear she hears someone pick up.

_"Hello?"_

"Hi, may I speak to Beck?"

_"Speaking...Jade? Is that you?"_

"Yep."

_"Did you block your number?" _Beck asks.

"Yeah."

_"Why?"_

"I thought you wanted to apologize."

_"Yeah, I do..."_

"Well..." Jade says impatiently.

_"I don't want you to think I'm conceited or a jerk that's not really how I am. I guess I don't know how to talk to you."_

"What do you mean you don't know how to talk to me. Wouldn't you talk to me like you would any other person."

_"I don't know, not really. Most of the girls at our school kinda annoy me. So I have a tendency to be a little sarcastic and maybe even kinda rude. But they never seem to get it. I don't really try all that hard with them but you, you seem to be different."_

"Why, because I'm not some airhead falling over every word that comes out of your mouth."

_"No, because I actually like talking to you. I find you interesting. I can actually have a decent conversation with you..well...when you wanna talk to me. It's like all the girls at our school are fake and they just say what they think I want to hear or agree with everything I say. Its irritating. You actually have an opinion and aren't afraid to say it."_

"Well, I've never been one to bite my tongue." Jade says.

_"I've noticed. Look, I know you're not about making friends and all that but I think we probably could be. We probably have more in common than you think."_

Jade lets out a long sigh. "How do you know. You didn't know anything about me when you first approached me. I was just like everyone else at that point."

_"I knew you were different and I wanted to get to know you. I knew that l liked your style, it reminded me of my own."_

"Yeah, right."

_"Seriously. I like it. It makes you stand out."_

"Thanks... I guess. Umm... I guess I kinda like your style too."

_"Really?" _Beck laughs

"Yeah, I thought your boots were pretty cool."

_"You know, I didn't think you were going to call."_

"I wasn't. But for some reason I did."

_"Well I'm glad you did."_

"Me too."

_"So...what are you up to now?" _Beck asks.

"Nothing. Sitting here talking to you. What about you?"

_"Talking to you and watching tv."_

"What are you watching?"

_"Some reality show about people trying to get into the entertainment business."_

"OH MY GOD! That's make it or break it! I love that show. I can't believe I'm missing it." Jade says as she hops off the bed and turns on the television..

_"You like this show?" _ Beck laughs

"Yeah!" Jade says. "They're all total losers, but they really think they have chance at making it in the business."

_"That's a horrible thing to say. What if someone said that about one of us."_

"We actually have talent. They don't. Look at this guy. He has been on a million auditions and hasn't booked a single job. It's sad." Jade says laughing hysterically.

_"You are so mean." _Beck says trying to hold back his laughter.

"Wait until you see the girl Jessica. She wants to be a singer but the poor girl can't carry a note to save her life. Everytime she sings for people they always have these reaction shots of everyone making these hilarious faces."

_"Sounds funny."_

"It is."

_"Well since you know so much about it, you should stay on here and watch this marathon with me. You can explain to me what's going on."_

"Sure, I'd love to tell you all about these morons." Jade laughs as she makes herself comfortable on her bed.


	12. The Slap Pt 2

**Andre Harris has updated his status:**

_***Hey guys! Wanna go to the movies tomorrow?***_

_friends tagged: Beck Oliver, Jade West, Cat Valentine and Chrissy Moore_

**Comments:**

**Beck Oliver: **_I'll go. What do you want to see._

**Cat Valentine: **_Yay, I love movies! _

**Andre Harris: **_Cool, And I don't know. Let's see who wants to go, then we can decide._

**Jade West: **_No._

**Chrissy Moore: **_I wish I could, but I'm visiting my grandparents this weekend._

**Andre Harris: **_Too bad Chris, maybe next time. Come on Jade, it'll be fun._

**Jade West: **_No, and don't tag me in stuff. _

**Beck Oliver: **_I guess someone has to be the party pooper ;-)_

**Jade West: **_Did you seriously just use a winky. _

**Cat Valentine: **_Hey Jade!_

**Jade West: **_Sup_

**Cat Valentine: **_Come on and go! I don't want to be the only girl._

**Andre Harris: **_Yeah Jade, don't let Cat be the only girl._

**Jade West: **_So what am I, Cat's babysitter?_

**Cat Valentine: **_That would be so much fun!_

**Jade West: **_My goodness._

**Beck Oliver:**_ Come on Jade, it'll be fun to hang out._

**Cat Valentine: **_Hey Andre, can I invite Robbie?_

**Andre Harris: **_Sure, why not._

**Jade West: **_I'm definitely not going now. I'm not going to be seen in public with a guy carrying around a puppet._

**Beck Oliver: **_Hey Cat, do you think Robbie can leave the puppet at home?_

**Cat Valentine: **_Yeah! I'll ask him to._

**Andre Harris: **_There you go Jade, problem solved. What do you say?_

**Jade West: **_I say you all are so annoying._

**Cat Valentine: **_Come on Jade...PLEASE!_

**Beck Oliver: **_PLEASE!_

**Andre Harris: **_PLEASE!_

**Jade West: **_FINE! It seems like you won't leave me alone until I agree to go so what are we going to see._

**Andre Harris: **_A few things came out today. Anyone have any ideas?_

**Jade West: **_The Scissoring!_

**Beck Oliver: **_That does look good. Or maybe Directions that looks good._

**Andre Harris: **_I'm down for either one of those. Cat?_

**Cat Valentine: **_The Scissoring looks scary. And Directions looks boring._

**Andre Harris: **_Well what do you want to see?_

**Cat Valentine: **_Happy Time Adventure comes out today!_

**Jade West: **_I don't think so._

**Beck Oliver: **_ Maybe not this time._

**Andre Harris: **_Why don't we just go see The Scissoring._

**Cat Valentine: **_Fine, but I'm gonna need to hold on to somebody._

**Beck Oliver: **_No problem, you can sit next to Jade._

**Cat Valentine: **_Yay!_

**Jade West: **_Thanks a lot._

**Beck Oliver: **_No Problem ;-)_

**Andre Harris: **_Alright. It's playing at 9:40 tomorrow night. You want to go to that one?_

**Jade West: **_Cool!_

**Beck Oliver: **_Sounds like a plan._

**Cat Valentine: **_KK_

**Andre Harris: **_Cool, see you guys tomorrow night._


	13. Movie Mania

Andre waits at the entrance of the movie theatre, pacing back and forth, waiting for his friends to arrive. It's a little past 9:25 and the movie would be starting in about fifteen minutes. He begins to walk to the concession stand when he hears someone call his name.

"Hey Andre!"

"Hey Red!" Andre says as he meets Cat and Robbie in the lobby. "What's up Robbie."

"Hey Andre." Robbie says. "Thanks for letting me come."

"Oh no problem. It's more fun with more people."

"Are Jade and Beck here yet?" Cat asks.

"No, not yet." Andre says.

"I'm right here." Jade says walking up to the group.

"Jade!" Cat says, running up to her and giving her a hug.

"I don't do hugs. Hey Robbie, I see you left the puppet at home. Way to be normal!" She says walking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Andre yells out after her.

"To the concession stand!" She yells back. "The movie's starting soon, and I need snacks."

Jade walks up to an empty spot at the concession stand and looks at the menuboard. She decides on what to get and then checks to see if they have her favorite candies before placing her order. "Hey West! Want to split a popcorn?" She hears someone say. She looks up to see Beck standing at the next register down from her. "No thanks." She responds. "I like my popcorn a certain way... you probably won't like it."

"How do you like it? Extra butter, salt, plain?" Beck says leaving the register and walking up next to her.

"No, I get a bunch of candy and dump it inside. You know, reese pieces, m&M's. And I mix it all up."

"Sounds interesting. I'm willing to try it. I'll get the popcorn and I'll even get our drinks. You get the candy."

"OKay." Jade says. "I want a cherry icee."

"No problem."

"Hey guys, Robbie and I are going to go get some seats so we can all sit together." Andre says. "Cat went to the bathroom, can you look out for her?"

"Sure." Beck says.

"Does it really take this long to grab a couple of boxes of candy? You're going to make me miss the previews!" Jade says, leaning over the counter fussing at the cashier. "Hurry up!"

"Jade! Leave him alone... he's swamped." Beck says pulling her back.

"He's slow." Jade says as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Hey, while we have a moment alone I just wanted to tell you that I enjoyed talking to you last night. I can't remember the last time I stayed on the phone with someone for hours like that." Beck says.

"Yeah, I was surprised at how much we had to talk about."

"Here's your candy and here is your popcorn, icee, and coke." The cashier says handing them both their things.

"Thanks." Beck says grabbing everything off the counter. "We better get going before we miss something."

Beck and Jade start to walk toward the theatre when JAde stops and turns around. "Ugh, I forgot about Cat. I'll wait for her."

"Are you sure? You did almost leap across the counter because they were taking too long with your candy."

"Yeah I'm sure, I'll go in and get her."

"ALright."

Beck walks off and into the theatre and Jade walks in the bathroom to find Cat standing in front of the mirror looking at herself.

"Cat!" She says.

"Oh, hey Jade." Cat says still looking in the mirror.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm a little scared to go in. I don't want to see a horror movie."

"So why did you agree to come?"

"Because I like you guys and I didn't want to be left out."

"Well we're here with three guys, pick one and latch onto him." Jade says waving Cat out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, maybe Beck... he's kinda cute." Cat says walking towards the bathroom exit.

"Or maybe Robbie, you did invite him here."

"I don't think Robbie is going to be a good protector."

"Well sit beside Andre, I'm sure he won't mind letting you grab onto him."

"Maybe. Why not Beck? Do you like him?" Cat says, looking at Jade suspiciously.

"No, not like that. We're just sharing some popcorn and candy so we need to sit next to each other. Come on before we miss the start of the movie." Jade says as she starts walking toward the theatre.

"Wait a minute, I want to grab a drink and a hotdog." Cat says running toward the concession stand.

"Hurry!" Jade yells as she props herself up against the wall and waits.

Cat finds an empty spot at the counter and places her order. Jade impatiently looks back at the theatre trying to hear if the movie has started. She lifts herself from off the wall to see what is taking so long with Cat's stuff when she sees the man hand her a soda and a hotdog. "It's about time." She says to herself.

Cat takes her items from the cashier and begins to put ketchup and mustard on her hotdog.

"Cat! Come On!'" She hears Jade yell again. She hurries and grabs her stuff and begins to walk away when she accidentally bumps into a guy standing behind her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She says to him.

"Watch where you're going clutz." He says rudely as he walks past her.

"I said sorry, no need to be rude." Cat says as she walks off.

"You're that ditzy chick that goes to school with us. Just watch where the hell you're going. "

"Excuse me?" Jade says walking up to the group.

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the ditzy redhead." The boy says, laughing with his friend.

"I know who you were talking to, now you can apologize to her."

"What is it to you?"

"She's... well I know..." Jade struggles to find the words to say before finally blurting out. "She's my friend! Okay, she's my friend and you need to apologize."

"Since when did you two become friends?" The boy says.

"Don't worry about that, she apologized and you continued to be mean to her, so apologize now or you'll regret it."

"Oh really, how exactly will I regret it?"

Jade walks up to the guy very slowly and gets right in his face and speaks in an intimidating whisper. "Look here Ryder Daniels, I may be a freshman but I know all about you and the little scam you like to run on the ladies of Hollywood Arts. You apologize to my friend, or I will personally see to it that your reputation is ruined beyond repair and if you don't believe me... just try me."

Ryder looks back and forth between Cat and Jade. He looks at Jade and she stares him down waiting for Cat's apology.

"Sorry. I was rude." Ryder quietly says to Cat.

"Thank you." Cat says walking away from them.

"Yeah, thanks Ryder." Jade says as she winks at him and follows Cat to the theatre.

"Thank you so much. I can't believe you actually said we're friends." Cats says to Jade giving her a half hug with her free arm.

Jade prys Cat's arm off of her. "I guess we're kinda friends so, it's no problem."

"This is so cool, hanging out with all of my new friends and my new best friend. We should have a sleepover next weekend bestie!" Cat says as she disappears into the theatre.

"What? I never the word best... I definitely never said anything about sleepovers. We're not besties, I just said we're kinda friends... Cat? Do you hear me Cat?" Jade calls out as she enters the theatre and disappears into the darkness.


	14. Morning Announcements

It's early Monday morning and everyone is filing into Sikowitz's classroom and taking their seats as the morning announcements begin. Jade enters the room, just as the announcement is made that auditions are still taking place for the full moon jam. Still bitter about her rejection, she rolls her eyes and slides into the back row of the class where she decides to listen to music and tune out the rest of the announcements. She pulls her pear phone out of her backpack, unravels her earbuds and puts them in her ears. She's in her own world, tapping her pencil along with the beat of a song when she feels a tap on her shoulder. She ignores it at first, hoping whoever it is would go away before finally giving in to the persistent tapping. She turns to see who is trying to drill a hole in her shoulder and is met with a very eager looking Sinjin. Upon their eyes making contact, Sinjin's face beams and he waves excitedly. Jade removes one of her earbuds and greets him with an uneasy smile.

"Good morning Jade." Sinjin says, happy to be acknowledged.

"Morning." Jade says very bluntly and quickly.

"Well I just wanted to ask you, if you would like to go to homecoming with me." Sinjin says nervously.

Jade is taken aback. Of course she didn't want to go to homecoming with Sinjin and normally she would have snapped at him for asking such an asinine question, but for some reason she actually felt sorry for him and just gently shook her head no.

"No?" Sinjin asks, his voice filling with hurt.

"Yeah..." Jade says sympathetically.

"Yeah!" Sinjin says, perking up.

"No!" Jade says slightly louder.

Unsure of which way their conversation was going Sinjin asks, "Are you saying yes or no?" hoping to clarify.

"I'm saying no...sorry Sanjay." Jade says, about to put her earbud back in.

"It's Sinjin."

"What?"

"My name, it's Sinjin."

"Sin-jin?"

"Yeah."

"Oh... sorry Sinjin." Jade says, once again about to put her earbud in.

"May I ask why?" Sinjin says, stopping her again. "Do you already have a date?"

"No..."

"Are you performing, I don't understand."

"I don't even think I'm going to... wait a minute, did you say performing?"

"Yeah."

"We can perform for homecoming?"

"Yeah, usually they pick one or two acts to do a song or two during the dance. It gives the DJ a break."

"Can freshmen try out? And if so, who would I talk to."

"It's open to anybody... and I think you would talk to the faculty advisor for the homecoming committee."

"Who is that?"

"I don't know... Sikowitz might be able to tell you."

Jade jumps up and grabs Sinjin by the face. "I couldn't love you any more than I do right now!" She tells him. Sinjin leans back in his chair, happy and content, holding his face where Jade's hands once were. Jade runs off to get Sikowitz, determined to get answers from their very eccentric teacher. "Sikowitz!" She says startling him as he writes on the board."

"My goodness Ms. West, you've startled me!" Sikowitz says, dramatically grabbing his chest.

"Sorry about that." Jade says, putting her hand over his. "I just have a question for you..."

"Yes." Sikowitz says as he sits in the lone chair on the stage ."

"Sinjin said that freshmen can try out to perform for homecoming."

"That is true."

"Well he said that I would need to get in touch with the faculty advisor for the homecoming committee in order try out."

"That is also true, so how may I help you?"

"I want to try out, so I need to know who I would talk to."

"That would be me!" Sikowitz exclaims jumping up from the seat.

"You?"

"Yes, I am the homecoming committee advisor and I would be more than happy to hear you audition... just not now. Right now, we have class." Sikowitz says, moving her back towards her seat.

She swats his hands away, wanting to finish the conversation. "So when may I audition?" She asks turning back to look at him.

"I'll tell you what, if you have your music and everything ready I will listen to you today at 12:15."

"12:15? That's in the middle of my lunch period."

"Fine, I just figured that would be more convenient for you seeing as though you are busy writing your play."

"Oh yeah, okay... I'll come in at 12:15. Do you know who can play the piano for me."

"Ms. West... we are in a performing arts high school, one of the best in the country. I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding a musician to help you out. Actually, I thought you were able to play yourself."

"I am, but I don't like to sing _and_ play the piano. I need someone who is really good and can learn the music quickly."

"Ms West, I'm already giving you an early audition, do I have to do all of the work." Sikowitz says, placing his hands on his hips.

Jade sulks and begins to walk away. "No, I'll find someone." She says heading back to her seat.

"Jade!" Sikowitz shouts, jumping down from the stage and grabbing her by the arm. He pulls her in and whispers in her ear. "I hear that Andre Harris is practically a musical prodigy."

Jade's mood suddenly lightens. "Really?!" She says to him.

Sikowitz nods his head and gives her a wink.

"Thanks Sikowitz."

"No problem Jade." Sikowitz says quietly before dramatically jumping up on stage capturing the attention of the entire class. "GOOD MORNING CLASS! TODAY WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION. HOW TO CONVEY A MESSAGE, OR EMOTION WITHOUT WORDS AND JUST THE USE OF YOUR BODY...but first lets have an update from Ms. West, and young Beck about the status of the Freshman class play."

* * *

"Hey Man!" Beck says, standing up from his locker. "Did you hear the announcement about homecoming this morning?"

"Yeah," Andre says. "Are you going."

"I think so... are you?"

"Yeah."

"Who are you thinking of asking?"

"I don't know. I was thinking about asking Chrissy or Cat since I know them the best. How about you?" Andre asks.

"I'm gonna ask Jade."

"Jade...really?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"You know Sinjin asked her this morning and she shot him down." Andre laughs.

"She doesn't like Sinjin."

"...And she likes you?"

"More than him." Beck laughs.

"Hey guys." Jade says, as she approaches Andre's locker.

"Hey!" They respond simultaneously.

"Jade, can I ask you something." Beck begins before Jade kindly cuts him off.

"In a minute..." She says. " Andre, can I talk to you?"

"Uhh, yeah." Andre says nervously as his eyes shoot back and forth between Beck and Jade. A look of concern comes over Beck's face as he looks back and forth between Andre and Jade, and Jade looks back and forth between Andre and Beck.

"W-what do you want to t-talk about." Andre says, stammering his words.

"I would like to talk to you...in private, if that's alright." She says bashfully.

"Ok, sure."

"Thanks." Jade says as she starts to walk towards her locker. "Let me grab some things from my locker and I'll meet you outside...okay?"

Once Jade is gone Beck turns to Andre with a look of annoyance on his face. "What is that all about?" He asks.

"I don't know."

"Andre?" Beck presses.

"I don't!"

"You don't think she's gonna ask you to homecoming do you?"

"I don't think so."

"Well if she does, say no."

"Why?"

"Come on man, I really want to take her to this dance." Beck says, practically begging.

"Alright, if she asks me to homecoming I'll say no."

"Thanks, I'll see you later." Beck says while walking off towards his next class.

"Alright, see you at lunch." Andre tells him as he heads outside to talk to Jade.

* * *

Beck, Andre, Cat, and Jade all sit at the lunch table like they do everyday. Jade and Andre and Beck are unusually quiet and Cat has taken notice.

"Are you guys mad at each other?" She says looking around the table.

"No, why would you say that?" Jade asks, taking a bite of her burrito.

"No one is talking... it's too quiet."

"I just have a lot on my mind right now, but everything's okay." Jade says giving Cat a reassuring smile.

"Well what about you two." She says

"Everything's good, Red." Andre says , while picking at his plate.

"Yep... everything is fine." Beck says unconvincingly. In actuality things weren't fine for him. His best friend and the girl he liked had some super secret meeting and Andre refused to tell him what it was about. The only thing he would say was that he _couldn't _say because he was sworn to secrecy.

"KK!" Cat says, dismissing Beck's callousness. "Did you guys hear about homecoming! I'm really excited about it. I just hope someone asks me to go with them." Cat says.

"Why don't we go together." Andre tells her.

"Really?!" Cat squeals.

"Sure, why not?"

"Yay, Andre's going to be my homecoming date!" She shouts with delight, jumping up and running over to give him a hug.

"Oh my goodness... it's ten after!" Jade suddenly says as she and Andre both scurry to gather their belongings.

"What's going on? Should I start packing up too?"

"NO!" Andre and Jade both shout.

Jade grabs her stuff and runs out of the asphalt café and back into the school. Beck glares at Andre, upset that he won't tell him what's going on.

"I gotta go." Andre says as he runs off in the same direction as Jade.

Beck and Cat watch until the two of them are out of their sight.

"What's going on with them?" Cat asks suspiciously.

"I don't know." Beck says as he sits quietly for the rest of the lunch period and finishes his lunch.


	15. The Rivera-Kelly Fallout

After lunch Beck leaves the Asphalt Cafe looking for Andre and Jade. Andre is nowhere to be found but Jade is standing at her locker talking to Luis Rivera, an incredibly handsome puerto-rican junior. Beck kneels down at his locker and grabs a couple of books but is unable to stop himself from looking back at the two. Jade's blushing..._**blushing**_. Beck lets out a huff and slams his locker shut. As he starts to put his backpack on he hears Jade giggle... a soft feminine flirty giggle, a sound he's never heard come from her before except for once; the night they spent all night on the phone together. Beck stares the two of them down and before he could stop, he finds himself standing in front of Jade's locker.

"Oh, hey Beck!" She says almost as cheery as Cat would say it.

"Hey." Beck says dryly.

"Hey man." Luis says. "I'm Luis, I heard about you, heard you were a pretty good actor."

"Thanks." Beck says coldly. "Um Jade, is it alright if I talk to you now?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that... I'll talk to you later Luis."

"Alright, can I call you tonight?"

"I'll call you, Beck and I have to work on our play."

"Cool, Talk to you later." Luis says before finally walking off.

Beck watches him and turns back to Jade. "You gave Luis Rivera your phone number?" He says slightly perturbed.

"Yeah, he's hot." Jade says closing her locker.

"You wouldn't even give me your number so that we could do homework."

"I know this isn't what you wanted to talk to me about."

"No, I wanted to talk to you about homecoming."

"Oh, do you want to double date with me and Luis?"

"You and Luis? You're going to homecoming with him?"

"Yeah, he just asked me."

"Oh..."

"So what about homecoming, do you have a date yet?"

"Um, not really... I'm trying to figure out who I want to go with. But yeah, we can double date... if you want."

"Sure, we might as well get Andre and Cat to go with us."

"Yeah. Hey, I gotta go." Beck says, quickly walking away from Jade. "I'll see you when you come to my house later."

"Okay, seeya." Jade says as she's about to walk off. "Oh! Hey Beck?"

"Yeah?"

"My mom has an appointment this afternoon, will it be okay if I get a ride with you?"

"Yeah, just meet me at my locker after school."

"Alright, seeya later."

* * *

"We have to take a break. I feel like my brain is going to explode." Jade says tossing her notebook on the floor. She had been working on the play with Beck all evening in his RV. They hit a spot that they were both stuck on, and had been tossing out ideas, unsuccessfully, for the last thirty minutes.

"Alright." Beck says, tossing his notebook down next to hers on the floor. "We'll take a break. What do you want to do?"

"Eat something." Jade says, looking around the RV. "You don't keep any food in here?"

"Sometimes, usually fruit. Let's go in the house and scrounge for food."

Beck and Jade walk to the house, in search of food. When they walk in Jade sits at the kitchen table while Beck raids the pantry, gathering snacks.

"It smells good in here Stella? What are you cooking?" Jade says.

"Just spaghetti." Stella says as she walks over to the table. "You're welcome to stay for dinner if you like."

"Oh no, I don't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be intruding I invited you, besides we always have plenty. Why don't you call your mom and tell her you're staying for dinner."

"Oh, she'll be fine with it."

"Are you sure? You don't want her to cook too much."

"Cooking anything would be cooking too much for her." Jade laughs. "My mom doesn't cook, she's awful at it."

"That can't be true." Stella chuckles

"Yeah, it is. She can't cook. She usually gets carry out from a nice restaurant or something."

"I thought your mom was a housewife." Beck says sitting across from Jade at the table. "Isn't cooking a part of their job?"

"You would think so, I've never heard of a housewife that can't cook... well besides my mom." Jade laughs.

"I guess its different for everyone." Stella says. "If you ever want to learn how to cook, I'll be more that willing to show you."

"Really?" Jade smiles.

"Yeah."

"Cool, thanks."

"No problem. Hey, I was reading the school newsletter and I see you have homecoming coming up... are you two going?

"Yeah." Beck and Jade say in unison.

"Are you going with each other?"

"No." They say, still in unison.

"I already have a date." Jade says timidly.

"Yeah, me too." Beck says.

"You do?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"Desiree Kelly."

"Desiree Kelly?"

"Yeah."

"Um."

"What?"

"Nothing." Jade says before falling silent. There is a tense and awkward silence between the two of them. Beck fiddles with the bag of chips in front of him, no longer eating any and doing his best to avoid making eye contact with Jade. Jade slowly taps the cup in front of her looking anywhere but in Beck's direction. She suddenly stands from the table and walks up to Stella. "Do you need any help?" She asks her.

"Sure." Stella says, noticing the tension between Jade and her son. "Have you made a salad before, do you know how to chop vegetables?"

"No, but I'm a quick learner." Jade says.

The rest of the evening was an unusual one. They barely spoke to each other after the homecoming conversation with Beck's mother. Jade secretly wished she had declined Stella's dinner invite as she sat through an awkward dinner where she and Beck barely said two words to each other. Once dinner was over Jade helped Stella and Beck clear the table and said her thanks for inviting her to dinner. She slipped out and gathered her things from Beck's RV and left as quickly as possible. Usually Beck would tell Jade to call him and they would talk and watch Make It or Break It or one of the other television shows they discovered that they both liked, but not that night. He didn't ask, and she didn't bother.

* * *

The next morning was a strange morning for both Beck and Jade. The avoided each other like the plague. They didn't sit next to each other in Sikowitz's class and when he asked for an update on the play Beck quickly responded that they didn't have one. Jade also made sure to say that it might be time to bring in the rest of the writing team. Jade never showed up for lunch and instead decided to do some studying in the library. Beck sat at their usual table with his books close by and his backpack still on his back just in case he _'suddenly had somewhere to be' _when Jade arrived. Fortunately for him, she never did.

At the end of 7th period Jade stood at her locker with Luis beside her. Beck glanced over at them a couple of times making sure to shake his head or roll his eyes each time. All he could see was Jade fiddling in her locker like always and Luis' back. Beck stood at his locker, talking to Andre when he glanced over one last time and this time he could see Jade. She had closed her locker door and was leaning up against it. She was listening to Luis talk about something, but she wasn't as giddy and flirty as she was the day before. He heard Luis ask her what was wrong and could make out something about a headache and to call her later. Luis walks away and says "Hey" to Beck as he walks past. Once Luis was out of sight, Beck excused himself from Andre and marched up to Jade, who was once again fiddling in her locker.

"What's wrong with Desiree Kelly?" He demands.

"Excuse me?" Jade says sharply.

"When I said I was going to homecoming with Desiree Kelly you said _'Um', _and not in a good way. What was that about?"

"Nothing." Jade says nonchalantly. "I just think you can do better."

"Really?"

"Look, you were the one who pushed for us to be _"friends" _ and when you're _"friends"_ with someone, aren't you supposed to tell your _"friend"_ when they are taking a skank to homecoming?"

"First of all, the excessive use of _"air quotes" _isn't necessary. Second, how do you figure Desiree is a skank."

"She's the skankiest of the skanks...but if that's what you like..." Jade shrugs as she walks off and out the front entrance to the school. Beck follows behind her and they both stand on the steps waiting for their rides..

"You think Luis Rivera is any better?" He says to her from the opposite side of the steps.

"There is nothing wrong with Luis."

"Just like there isn't anything wrong with Desiree."

"Why are we even talking about this... I could really care less about you and your skanky girlfriend." Jade says, turning away from him.

Beck takes a step closer to Jade, and takes a deep breath to calm down. "She's not my girlfriend." He says calmly and quietly. "She's just my homecoming date."

"You don't owe me an explanation." Jade says, her voice also calming.

"So what happened to you last night? I didn't have anyone to talk to while I watched Bloodsuckers."

"I figured you would rather talk to Desiree."

"Yeah right, you were probably on the phone all night with Luis."

"I was not." Jade says defensively.

"He didn't call you? I find that hard to believe."

"He _did _call me... I just didn't answer." She says, still staring off in the opposite direction.

"Why."

"**WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW!**" She snaps. "You are my _"friend"_... not my boyfriend."

"Yeah, I know. You have Luis for that."

"Luis is not my boyfriend. He's just my date for homecoming... not that I owe you any explanation either."

"I know you don't"

"It's not like anyone else asked me."

"I heard a couple of guys asked you, even Sinjin."

The mention of Sinjin's name manages to evoke a laugh from Jade. She crosses her arms over her chest as if she were trying to guard herself. "Well, the guy I would have liked to have gone with didn't ask me, so it's whatever." She says, almost to herself.

Beck takes another step closer to Jade, ending up standing beside her. "Funny." He says remorsefully. " The girl I wanted to ask already had a date, so I had to ask someone else."

For the first time since they had been outside Jade turns and looks at Beck. "My mom is here." She says as she walks past him and down the stairs.

"Jade, I was trying..."

"I've gotta go." She says, cutting him off and heading down the sidewalk.

"Are you going to call me tonight?" He yells out after her.

Jade turns and looks at him, but doesn't respond. Instead she turns back around and hops into her mother's car making sure not to look at him again as they leave the school.


End file.
